More good news for pygmy rabbits

Last month, a linkurl:judge ruled;http://www.westernwatersheds.org/legal/07/pygmy/pygmysjorder.pdf that the US Fish and Wildlife Service had to revisit a 2004 decision denying pygmy rabbits outside of the Columbia River basin protection under the Endangered Species Act. I wrote about linkurl: efforts to save the Columbia basin rabbits;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/53232/ in our June issue; such rabbits have been listed as endangered since 2003. The ruling was in response to a suit filed by a number of groups, including the linkurl:Western Watersheds Project, ;http://www.westernwatersheds.org/news_media/newsmedia_2007/wwp130_newsmedia.shtml which had been among those who filed the original petition for US District Judge Edward Lodge found that the Fish and Wildlife Service hadn't applied the rules of the Endangered Species Act properly. He didn't say whether the Service should list the rabbits as endangered, but said that it should issue a new finding on the petition within 90 days, the Act standard. It's unclear what effects the decision will have on recovery...